


Onion's Germination

by FlippySpatula



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Aquamarine was a crystal gem AU, Crystal Gem Aquamarine, Episode: s02e08 Keeping It Together, Gen, How Do I Tag, Light Angst, Mentions of surgery, My First Fanfic, Onion has Autism, Onion has a strange and terrifying childhood, POV Multiple, Post-Season/Series 01, Pre-SUF, Steven has ADHD, i now know where this is in the timeline, idk how to write neurotypical characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:40:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 19,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23624026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlippySpatula/pseuds/FlippySpatula
Summary: Aquamarine, the quirky, sarcastic gem, joined the Crystal Gems during the Rebellion, but she was corrupted when Rose Quartz couldn't reach her in time. She joined her sisters, lost and mad, cursed to wander lost on the planet they sought to protect.When Onion first saw the gems, and the power they contained, he realized how much he wanted it. Onion, when he puts his full effort into something, turns out to be very terrifying indeed.
Relationships: Aquamarine & Crystal Gems (Steven Universe), Aquamarine & Onion (Steven Universe), Onion & Peridot (Steven Universe), Onion & Steven Universe, Ruby/Sapphire (Steven Universe)
Comments: 23
Kudos: 30





	1. Just Another Day

“We have another mission.” 

Steven’s face fell. He had been looking forward to assembling the new puzzle he got with pearl! Or try the new recipe Lars gave him with Amethyst (If she could keep from eating the ingredients before they were cooked). Or anything else, really. It felt like the gems were going on more and more missions, and while his powers were developed enough to come with (for real this time!), the gems never let him accompany them, even if he promised to stay on the sidelines! They kept saying he wasn’t ready for real fighting, but he knew he had been in plenty serious situations before! In fact, he had half a mind to—

“And we think you are ready to come with us.”

Well. Never mind then.

* * *

Steven bounced up and down on his seat. He knew the gems wanted him to focus, but he couldn’t help himself. The gems were finally recognizing his abilities! Scenario after scenario flew through his head about the mission to come, thoughts blurring into each other so quickly it was difficult to recall what he was doing before another thought sprung into the limelight. Distantly he could hear one of the gems trying to get his attention, but his giddy train of thought wasn’t anywhere near stopping.

The slow, calming voice of Garnet washed over him, helping slow his racing thoughts. Garnet had started to describe the details of the mission. They would be catching and dispatching another gem monster that Garnet had tracked.

“Would you like to hear about the gem?” Garnet inquired. Steven nodded, not trusting himself to speak without making excess noise.  
“I used to know her, quite well actually,” she continued. For the first time since she started talking, Garnet started to look pained. “We were very close in the rebellion.”

Steven let himself get lost in Garnet’s description. It was an Aquamarine, she said. (Her voice cracked on the word “was.” Steven pretended not to notice) Garnet described the gem as an administrator fed up with the horrors of Gem bureaucracy. She was a small, petite thing, with a teardrop shape gem on her left cheek. She was better suited for busywork and administration, but she put her talents to work as best she could. Just like all the others in the rebellion. She primarily served as a scout, due to her small stature and powers of flight. Her snarky sarcasm mixed up the conversation dynamics, and while she sometimes caused conflicts (Her personality often rubbed people the wrong way), most people found her humor refreshing amidst the demons of the rebellion. Her signature sarcastic “I’m crying” line while pointing to her teardrop shaped gem had everybody doubled over in laughter the first time they heard it.

Towards the end of her description, the corners of Garnet’s mouth turned up in a sad smile. Even through her glasses, her despair was clear. Steven gave her a comforting hug. Now that his thoughts had calmed down, he was better able to recognize the discomfort Garnet had put herself through. Steven hated bringing up memories of the rebellion, but he had to admit learning about it was fun. Seeing what kind of rebellion his mom had built and how they acted felt like learning parts of himself. But being happy and content while Garnet was clearly upset (to him, an outside observer would see Garnet being as stoic as ever) felt wrong. Either way, there was no more time to think about it. Pearl and Amethyst were waiting by the warp pad. It was time to go. Steven and the gems stepped onto the warp pad, and as Garnet activated it, Steven allowed himself to be carried into the unknown.

They touched down near an abandoned barn. Steven looked around in confusion. Nothing looked out of place. Noticing Steven’s confusion, Pearl spoke up. 

“Don’t worry Steven, we wouldn’t bring you if the threat was so close to the warp. The Gem is down this road a while.”

Steven purposefully ignored Pearl’s unconscious jab at his abilities. “But I don’t want to walk so long. We’ll be gone all day!” 

“Don’t worry Steven, I got this!” Amethyst’s form began to glow and change, growing bigger and wider until-

“No way, a helicopter!”

As they sped over the trees, Steven couldn’t help but marvel at the beautiful horizon. Travelling by helicopter definitely provided a view that couldn’t be beat, even by his own seaside cabin. The white fluffy clouds, drifting through the sky. The blue of the ocean behind them, visible even from this distance past the tips of the trees underneath them. He turned his head to look forward, marveling at the beauty of his planet Earth. In moments like these, he felt truly connected to what his mother, sharing the appreciation for the beauty of Earth. His mother felt compassion for all the life on Earth, from the birds in the sky around him to the blue trees below…

_Wait. Blue trees?_

He looked again. There, in the distance ahead of them, there was a small area where the trees abruptly turned blue. He looked over at Garnet, who read the confusion off his face and just grimly nodded. It must have been the Gem’s influence, whatever it was.

They landed a short walking distance away from the edge of the blue trees. As they descended, Steven got a closer look at what gave the foliage its unnatural color. 

“Webbing?” he asked Garnet, who gave a small nod.

The trees were covered in thick blue ropes that looked eerily similar to the threads of a spider. Several animals from the forest were already caught, struggling against the bindings around them. The unnatural blue color of the webbing gave the entire area an otherworldly feeling. An uncomfortable weight seemed to settle in Steven’s stomach. What kind of monster had created this?

Suddenly, Garnet spoke up. “We wait here for now. We can’t track the gem while it is in hiding, but it will show up eventually.”

Amethyst made sounds of disappointment, but Steven took the opportunity to further observe his surroundings. The forest they had landed in was relatively flat, but the trees heavily obscured his vision. The webbing covering the trees implied that the monster, whatever it was, had taken residency in this area for a very long time. Steven was worried that the monster’s familiarity with the area would make him especially vulnerable, but since Garnet had finally allowed him to come to a battle, Steven was uncomfortable bringing up his concerns. Plus, if he expressed his discomfort, would that disappoint the Gems? Or would they appreciate his opinion and maturity in bringing his dilemma to light? Sighing internally, Steven concluded that Pearl at least, if not the other gems, would see his discomfort as reason to not bring him on any other missions.

Faintly, the sound of fluttering wings wafted across the team. Pearl flinched, summoning her spear and gripping it uncomfortably tight. Amethyst summoned her whip, wrapping it around her arms nervously. Garnet silently manifested her gauntlets. Steven simply looked around confused. What was the sound coming from?

A quiet, but incredibly harsh, swishing sound came from behind them. As they turned around looking for the source, a terrified squeaking noises were heard. Suddenly, a massive blue butterfly-like creature emerged with a webbed animal - was that a ferret? - in its hands.

As it emerged from the foliage, Steven could finally see the threat they were facing. The first thing he saw were massive blue wings. Taller than Garnet, with intricate patterns running through them. They fluttered nervously, keeping the monster levitated in the air. The body of the creature looked mostly normal, except for the fact that it had two -- no, three sets of arms on its disfigured body. The face looked like a normal gem face, but the eyes had grown into massive circular glowing lamps that illuminated the darkness of the shady forest. It was still carrying the squeaking ferret with two of its arms, ready for whatever perverse desires it felt it needed to fulfill.

Despite everything, Steven thought that a butterfly monster was actually pretty cute.

Of course, that was the moment the monster caught sight of them.

The monster had suddenly stilled, its face turned in their direction. The arms holding the ferret suddenly sprayed that same fluorescent blue sticky fluid that covered the trees, binding the ferret to a nearby trunk despite its terrified squirming. Throughout all this, the monster’s head remained staring at them, almost appraisingly. Its head tilted in consideration. Steven didn’t dare move. Under the monster’s glowing pupilless gaze, he felt trapped, almost paralyzed. The monster paused, considering.

Suddenly, everything was too bright. The monster’s glowing eyes, which previously was barely enough to illuminate the shade around them, had suddenly brightened to a level comparable to a floodlight. While the monster's gaze was enrapturing before, it now felt like a physical force was keeping him pinned. With the brightness of the eyes, Steven couldn’t quite get another look at the monster, but it was obvious it was reading for an attack. Steven belatedly tried to raise his shield, but his arms felt like they were moving through molasses. He started to panic. He couldn't move to protect himself. He couldn't fight, couldn't block, and definitely couldn't flee from the incoming attack.

Garnet and the others were outside the floodlight, and they were moving almost too quickly. They scattered, trying to get the drop on the monster, but it started to fly upwards, breaking its line of sight to him. Immediately, the strange restrictive force broke, causing him to stumble. Garnet leapt upwards, trying to catch it with a vicious uppercut but the monster deftly avoided her strike by fluttering to the side. The monsters six arms spread outward, and the same blue webbing trapping the ferret came spurting out towards them.

“Watch out, Steven!” He fumbled with his arms, just barely raising his shield in time to block the sticky spray. Garnet and amethyst had jumped away, but Pearl wasn’t so lucky. Looking over at Pearl, Steven saw that one of the arms had trapped pearls foot. Pearl slashed at the web connecting their limbs and severed it, but her foot was now essentially glued to the ground. While Pearl was busy extricating herself, Garnet and Amethyst resumed combat.

Amethyst was lashing out with her whip, forcing the monster to strafe left and right, while Garnet was trying to jump upwards to crush it with her gauntlets. Bright spotlights flashed everywhere as the monster flitted around evasively. No matter how much she tried, however, the monster was just too mobile in the air for Garnet to effectively battle it. Pearl had finally extricated herself and was trying to assist Amethyst with distracting the beast.

Steven, on the other hand, was overwhelmed. Everything was moving too fast, Garnet was visibly frustrated and barking orders to the others, but then “Gotcha!” turning his head, he saw that Amethyst had successfully lassoed the butterfly-like Gem monster, but it was struggling up in the air, wings flapping wildly, about to break free, then the massive floodlights focused completely on Amethyst, who became unnaturally stilled, but then Pearl leapt up from the side with her definitive war cry, launching her spear straight up right into the creature’s belly and suddenly everything was over in a puff of smoke.

The battlefield was silent. The gem began to fall from the sky. Everything was calm, in stark contrast to the out of control events of just a few seconds ago. Steven realized that he hadn’t helped at all with the battle, he had just stood there and protected himself. The Gems were dealing with what looked like a particularly difficult monster and Steven had not been able to help. _At least I wasn’t actively being a burden_ , he pondered. He acknowledged that his shield allowed the Gems to focus on fervently fighting the monster instead of actively protecting him.

Steven maneuvered himself under the falling gem, prepared to safely catch it. As the gem descended, Pearl’s words floated through his head: _“These monsters don’t mean to hurt us. And even if they did, nobody should be shattered unless they truly deserve it. These creatures are just…confused. Not in their right minds. We are doing everything we can to try to fix them but, in the meantime, we are just trying to keep them safe.”_ Even if Steven couldn’t help in the battle -His heart was still beating out of his chest¬- he could at least do something to help the mission.

He was so distracted he didn’t notice the small blur darting out between the trees. He did notice the involuntary jerk and shout given by the gems, but the blur had already leapt above his head and snatched the gem before he could catch it. The Gems drew their weapons, preparing to strike, but as the figure landed with the corrupted gem, he spotted a small tuft of yellow hair. A familiar figure stood there, holding the spoil of the Gems’ victory.

“ONION?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The corrupted gem fight draws heavily from Star's Mewberty form from Star vs. the Forces of Evil. You don't have to have watched it to understand the fight, but it will probably make a lot more sense because I don't know how to write fight scenes.
> 
> I will definitely be posting more chapters when I finish editing them, probably within the next few days.


	2. Methodology

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Onion wasn’t stupid.
> 
> Sure, he was only five years old, but he knew what he wanted and how to get it.
> 
> And at the top of the list was the Gems.
> 
> Steven didn’t know how lucky he was, getting to be so close to the power the Gems held. It was frankly atrocious that he acted so carefree when he had such superhuman capabilities.  
> Onion wanted the power.
> 
> Onion devised a plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yee I'm back with another chapter
> 
> Sorry I took so long, my parents made us go on vacation without internet, so I couldn't post until today
> 
> On the plus side, I had a lot of time to edit, so here's some higher quality stuff

When Onion and Steven first met, Onion was fascinated by the gem on his stomach. All the other people onion had met were simple beings, with few defining characteristics. Steven, on the other hand, had much more mystery around him. Steven himself was the first to admit that not even he knew the full extent of his powers

Over the first few years of Onion and Steven’s friendship, Onion had not once failed to be surprised. Onion kept waiting for Steven to run out of new things to share, but not once had Steven lapsed into the same dull monotony that the other townspeople tended to fall into. In fact, starting on the day Steven had first summoned his shield, he had started to share new information that his family had deemed him to young to comprehend before.

Despite the delay and secrecy in his learning of the Gems, Steven was more than willing to share the stories of the “adventures” that his family went on. Steven was prone to unintentionally oversharing information, which allowed Onion to assemble a relatively clear picture of the abilities of Stevens extraterrestrial family.

All of the Gems had gems. The pale one had a white round gem. The purple one had a purple, angular gem. The big square head one had those two gems on its hands. The basic fact was that if he wanted to obtain the power, Onion needed a Gem.

He already knew that not all gems gave the power. He had tried that when he was very young. He had looted Mother’s jewelry drawer back when he had first learned how to walk. The simple ear jewels and neck chains didn’t give any kind of power whatsoever. It had to be a special gem that gave the power. 

Steven had obtained his Gem from his mother when he was born. Onion’s mother unfortunately did not give a gem to Onion, nor had any other Mothers Onion had met. Steven himself had shared that his gem was an anomaly. He mentioned how the other Gems were equally confused by his “hybridization.”

Recently, however, Steven had begun to share new information. He had only recently discovered that the monsters that sometimes attacked beach city were also Gems. He said something about them being “corrupt,” but Onion tuned him out. These were monsters that the Gems had no qualms beating up, so that meant Onion could get the gem from a monster without killing one of Steven’s parents (Steven had already told him about Pearl’s “poofing,” and clearly the Gems couldn’t live without their gems). Steven was very forgiving, but it was probably not best to test if he would forgive losing a mom.

Onion found himself spending hours on end assembling the puzzle pieces of information that Steven divulged about himself and his family. Onion found that even with what little ideas he had assembled the picture was looking more and more desirable. Somehow, Onion needed to find and utilize a Gem of his own.

So now Onion knew what his end goal was, but the question was, how should he get to it? Onion had to do more direct reconnaissance.

Onion’s first problem was that the Gems generally fought monsters far away. Steven told him about how they used a “warp pad,” but when Onion prodded him further, he was told that only the Gems could use it. This gave Onion an idea.

Onion ran back home, quickly navigating the secret tunnels to his hidden room. There, in the chest in the corner, was one of his greatest secrets. Inside was what had to be a fragment of a gem. The chest bumped. Onion opened the lid. Inside was a green hand stuck to a yellow foot. The hand-foot scrabbled around, trying to escape. Onion quickly picked it up and with a quick wrist motion poofed it, grabbed the gem, and pocketed it. He had considered using this fragment for his plans, but this weak thing clearly failed to hold anywhere close to the power of Steven and his family.

In order to use the warp pad effectively, Onion first needed to do a trial run. Steven’s house apparently had a warp pad inside, but the Gems couldn’t be near while Onion was experimenting. One day, however, Steven had lamented that all three of the gems had left the house for a mission that would last the entire day. While Steven was complaining of boredom, Onion was quick to recognize the opportunity. When Steven left for the Big Donut, Onion quickly navigated to Steven’s house (The door was locked, but Onion just jimmied open the window and went in that way).

When he landed on the floor of Steven’s bedroom, Onion looked around. He had been in Steven’s house before, so he was familiar with the layout, but he still didn’t really know what Steven meant by a warp pad. Looking around, Onion’s eyes were drawn to the large door with the star insignia. Directly in front of it was a large blue circular crystal.

Onion walked over to it, ignoring all of Steven’s personal devices (Onion could come back for those later if he felt like it, but that wasn’t why he was there). Carefully, Onion’s feet pattered quietly up the small stairs, and brought him in front of the large crystal.

Here, Onion was stuck. He had a gem fragment, but how did the pad work? Were there voice commands? Onion dearly hoped not. Steven had talked about Fusion dances, was there a Warp dance? A Warp song? Onion’s plans had always faded out at this point, so for once he didn’t have a clear next step.

Onion carefully pulled out his Fragment and held it in his hands. The pad didn’t seem to respond to it. He held it closer to the pad. Still no reaction. Throwing caution to the wind, Onion allowed the gem to directly contact the pad. Outside of a resonant clink, there was no reaction. Onion was puzzled, a rare feeling for him. How would the Gems travel with the warp pad?

A destination. Onion needed a destination. Onion tried thinking about warping directly to his front door, but there was no distinct reaction. Onion thought about different locations in the town. The Big Donut? Nothing. The Fry Shop? Nothing. Steven’s Father’s Car Wash? Still nothing.

Thinking back, Onion realized that Steven had only talked about specific locations that the Gems warped to. It was always specific locations like “The Kindergarten,” “The Geode,” or “The Sky Arena.” Onion tried to think about what Steven had said about this “Kindergarten.” He thought about how Steven talked about huge purple cliffs, lined up and down with small holes. The decrepit soil, devoid of any life, plant or animal. The eerie emptiness surrounding the place. As he thought about it, a picture started to form in his head. He barely noticed how the fragment in his hands had started to heat up slightly. As he pictured the barren cliffs, his desire to be moved began to swell. He could feel that desire almost being channeled into the Fragment in his hands, which began to resonate with the pad below him. A single word echoed in his mind: “KINDERGARTEN.” Suddenly, the edges of the pad began to fizzle and glow.

The next thing he new he was in an entirely new location.

Onion walked around in a daze, taking in the unfamiliar surroundings. Just as Steven had claimed, he was surrounded by large purple cliffs. What Steven had failed to do, however, was communicate just how huge those cliffs were. The dented rock faces drew his vision up, and even when Onion inclined his head up, he could barely see the tops of edge of the rock face. Looking around, Onion saw the huge number of holes in the rock face. Like a puzzle with pieces missing, the cliff had blocky indents everywhere. Spying one particularly small hole close to the ground, Onion let himself be carried over to it. The hole was practically Onion sized, so he climbed in and let himself be held by the lifeless cliff.  
Onion suddenly felt an enormous sense of satisfaction. He had used the warp that even Steven had proclaimed he had trouble with. Unfortunately, the Fragment still in his hand decided that this moment was a particularly good time to reform. 

_Problem one solved_

Onion began following the Gems on their missions. Whenever Steven was willing to divulge information about the Gems’ whereabouts, Onion snuck away to follow them to the battle zone. As he watched and observed in the shadows, Onion noticed a trend. Whenever the monster was defeated, the Gems would catch the fallen gem, create a bubble around it, and then it would disappear. Onion was concerned. If they kept hiding the gems, he probably wouldn’t be able to find it (Onion had noticed that the special door only opened for the gems). Onion needed to get the gem before the Gems could bubble it.

That created the second problem. The Gems would be incredibly suspicious if Onion ran off with a gem. They would follow him and create unnecessary problems. Onion needed a distraction. As he was absentmindedly looking through Mother’s belongings, he noticed her jewelry drawer again. This gave Onion an idea.

Mother was kind enough to bring Onion on her next trip to Empire City. During the trip, Onion used Mother’s phone to find a gem shop (apparently called a “Jeweler”). When Mother was busy, Onion used the phone to give him directions to the shop. 

“Turn left” the GPS said. He abruptly turned left, ignoring the words the tall people started yelling. He stepped of the sidewalk and into the road. The shouts got louder, but Onion ignored them. He heard a honk, then a small crash, which he also ignored. Soon, he was outside the jeweler’s shop. He went inside.

Unfortunately, he was not as unnoticed as he had hoped. “Hey kiddo, are you waiting for your parent?” He nodded at the nice lady at the counter, hoping she would stop talking. “Do you want to walk around while you wait?” He nodded again. This could be helpful. “Okay, have fun!” He walked around the various counters, looking for a gem that would be suitable.

He could open the locked glass cases easily, but experience has shown that if he isn’t subtle, people will start screaming and chasing him. Then Mother gets Angry. He went outside and grabs a balloon from a passing child. The child began making noises, but Onion just ignored them, walking back into the shop. He looked up and noticed where the camera was. He positioned the balloon so the camera’s view was blocked, then pulled out Mother’s necklace from his pocked and snuck it into a passing adult’s back pocket. The nice lady at the counter noticed the necklace and ran over to the adult, thinking it was stolen. Perfect.

Onion quickly opened the glass case and grabbed the biggest gems they had. A nice squarish green gem, a triangleish yellow gem, and a smooth light blue gem all caught his attention. He pocketed them all, then closed and locked the case. He grabbed his balloon and walked out of the store as the confused adult finally settled things with the nice lady. He looked for the necklace in the adult’s pocket, but it wasn’t there. He turned back to the nice lady, who was holding it in her hands looking concerned. He walked up to her and pointed to it.

“Is this yours?” she asked. He nodded. “Where did you get it?” He stared at her. “Can you talk?” He kept staring. “Is it your parent’s?” He nodded, relieved. “Where are they?” He kept staring. “Sorry. Are you lost?” He shook his head. He mimed grabbing the necklace. “Okay I guess, here you go.” He quickly grabbed it and walked away. Mother would be sad if she noticed her necklace was missing. He let the balloon go, watching as it floated into the sky.

_Problem two solved_

The last step was performing the switch. He kept following the Gems whenever he could, but often Steven got suspicious. One day, however, he overheard that Steven was being allowed to come on the mission. He waited a bit, then followed them on the warp pad using the residual traces of energy still on the pad as a guide. When he arrived, nobody was there. He frowned, then noticed a strange purple helicopter flying away in the distance. He noted the direction it was going, then went back and grabbed his scooter. Fortunately, the helicopter didn’t end up traveling very far, and he made it to the strange blue trees just as it looked like the battle was being wrapped up. In less than a minute after he arrived, the tall pale gem threw a stick up, and poofed the gem monster. 

Seeing his chance, he took a running leap as Steven prepared to catch the gem, allowing himself to be exposed to the Gems but snatching his prize out of the air and rolling across the ground. While he rolled, Onion quickly switched out the freshly poofed Gem with the similar-looking blue gem still in his pocket. He then came to a stop, with the fake gem held in his hands.

“ONION?” Steven shouted. “What are you doing here?” Onion stared at him, then shrugged.

“Should we be worried? How did he even get here?” muttered Pearl. Onion grew nervous, this was the riskiest part of his plan. Luckily, Amethyst diffused the tension for him. “Don’t worry, P! It’s just Onion. He’s just being Onion!”

Garnet, on the other hand, was not swayed. “Give us the Gem, Onion.” She said in short, clipped syllables. 

He absently chewed on the fake gem, partly to give an aura of innocence and partly to hide its appearance from the Gems, who might be able to recognize the fake. He looked over at Steven again, who was looking slightly confused, but put his hand out to try and grab the Gem. Forcing a deject look on his face, Onion acted like he was reluctantly complying with Steven’s request, placing the fake gem in Steven’s hand. Steven looked over at the Gems for confirmation, then bubbled and sent the fake gem away. Before the Gems could further question how he got there, he ran off, got on his scooter, and then drove away. As he left, he heard Amethyst saying, “Let’s just ignore him and clean all this mess up.”

The real Gem felt heavy in his pocket, yet he felt lighter than ever with glee. He had acquired a real Gem. The last thing for Onion to do was to figure out how to tap into the power, hopefully before it reformed like his hand-foot fragment was prone to do.

_Completion_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> I should have another chapter ready in the next couple of days. I might start a regular update schedule after that, if things work out well.


	3. Initiation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Onion had the Gem, now he needed a way to access the power.
> 
> Fortunately Steven is ready to help Onion in any way he can.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my goodness I'm so sorry this got posted late. (2-3 days equals 2-3 weeks in my mind I guess)  
> I had a lot of trouble writing this chapter, I kept getting stuck.  
> Anyways there's not much else to say so enjoy!

The Gems were fortunately cleaning up the mess left behind by the fight, leaving Onion free to escape. Steven’s insistence on helping all the little animals caught by the Gem (“They’re so cute and helpless, Garnet! We gotta help them!”) allowed Onion to escape unnoticed. Even with Amethyst’s helicopter form, Onion had enough of a head start to reach and use the warp unnoticed by the Gems.

Onion let the blue light of the warp pad fade around him as he touched down at Steven’s house. Careful to avoid leaving any tracks near the warp pad (Onion regularly broke into Steven’s house, so footprints or misplaced items anywhere else should be ignored), he walked outside.

Onion felt himself absently riding back home on his scooter, but his mind was still preoccupied about his success. The acquisition of a Gem of his own was certainly a great accomplishment, even if his plans weren’t complete. Onion began to think about his next steps.

The main issue was that if the Gem reformed before Onion could tap into its power, it would likely escape. Onion wasn’t so overconfident in his abilities that he thought he could fight it singlehandedly, and even if he set up a trap for it when it reforms there was no guarantee that it wouldn’t escape. This Gem was decidedly larger and more dangerous than his Fragment which he could poof with his bare hands.

This meant that Onion had a time limit. As for how long, Onion couldn’t be certain. During the weeks that Steven’s tall pale mother Gem was poofed, Steven had been very sad, but had described in detail what the Gems had told him about poofing. Later, Steven had described how the purple Gem had gotten poofed multiple times in a day. His explanation for this when Onion had given him a curious glance was that the purple one, Amethyst, was a soldier gem, whereas the tall one, Pearl, was not. Soldier gems could reform much quicker than other gems, but Onion didn’t know if the Gem in his pocket was a soldier gem or not.

The Amethyst’s Gem, now that Onion thought about it, was very angular, with pointy edges and corners, while the Pearl’s Gem was much smoother and rounder. Feeling the gem still in his pocket, Onion examined it more closely. It felt mostly smooth, but since it was teardrop shaped it had one clearly defined point. (While his attention was focused on the Gem in his hand, he could hear people yelling from in front of his scooter, but he was much too involved in his thoughts to notice or care.) Onion supposed that since this Gem had only one point, it might reform quicker than the Pearl, but probably much slower than the Amethyst.

Although, now that he thinks about it, since this Gem is in Monster form, would it reform quicker? Even if it took a week to reform normally, being in Monster form might make it reform before his plans were complete. This was information that Onion simply didn’t have access to and couldn’t access without raising considerable suspicion. Even if the Gem wouldn’t reform for days, Onion would need to finish his plans soon, probably today at best. He couldn’t lose his progress now that he had come this far.

Onion had a deadline now, but he still needed to iron out the details of his plan. Onion looked up and noticed that he had pulled to a stop out in front of his house. He dismounted his scooter and walked inside. He nodded to Mother in greeting, then quickly climbed through the vents to his secrets room.

Now in complete solitude, Onion took out the gem to look at it closely for the first time. Onion’s breath stilled as he took in the Gem’s appearance. It was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen. It was such a nice bright blue color. Onion liked bright colors, so he liked the Gem a lot. The light reflected strangely off it, giving the Gem an otherworldly appearance. And the best part was that this was _his_ Gem now. This round blue stone held the key to unimaginable power (although Onion’s imagination was a terrifying place, so maybe Onion could stand to be surprised).

His examination mostly complete, Onion allowed his thoughts to turn to the next steps of his plan. Onion needed to combine his power with his Gem’s. The only reference Onion had for combining human and Gem powers was Steven. In fact, Onion remembered when Steven had first described his hybridization.  
 _  
“I mean, I’m a Gem too!”_

_Steven had been ranting about his controlling parents. Moments like these were when Onion was glad his Mother was so carefree. Onion had virtually complete freedom. However, Steven’s parents were Beach City’s source of marvel. Rumors had spread about superhuman feats that the so-called “Gems” could do._

_Onion quirked an eyebrow up at Steven in confusion. Steven, one of those “Gems?” The idea hadn’t even occurred to Onion before now._

_“Yeah! I’m a Gem! See?” Steven pulled up his shirt slightly, revealing a large round jewel in his navel. Onion looked at it in interest. He prodded the flesh around the gem experimentally. It gave way like normal flesh would have._

_“Hey, stop! That tickles!” Onion then brushed his fingers over the Gem. It was hard, cool, and smooth, completely unlike the warm textured flesh that Steven was made of. He gripped the edges and gave an experimental tug. It refused to give._

_“Yeah I know, right! I’ve got my Gem! But Garnet still doesn’t want to tell me the about the ‘Gem stuff’ she keeps hiding from me!” Onion threw an apologetic glance at Steven. It sounded like he still had some issues for Onion to help work out.  
_  
Steven had his gem in his insides. Onion debated how to get his Gem to work with his insides. Simply swallowing it wouldn’t do, it would be difficult to get back if it failed and the Gem might reform while it was still inside. Just holding it wasn’t working either. If his Gem did work like a magic amulet it wasn’t showing any signs of power. Onion’s mind wandered back to Steven. Steven was the only human Onion knew of who had utilized Gem power.

Did Steven have any Gem powers that could help him? Onion thought through what he knew of Steven’s powers. The Shield probably wouldn’t help at all, it was more for fighting. Levitation is completely irrelevant. Super strength probably wouldn’t help unless Steven was pushing the Gem into his body, which sounded painful and probably wouldn’t work anyways. Healing spit is disgusting, and probably isn’t relevant…

_Wait_

Onion suddenly stilled, pursuing this new train of thought at rapid speed. Healing magic is the only power Steven had that affected the body. Onion needed to find a way for his Gem’s powers to bond with his body. This was one of the only clear leads Onion had in a tumultuous whirlpool of ambiguity. Onion just needed to figure out how to get the healing magic to bond him to his Gem properly.

Onion thought about what he knew about Steven’s healing power. Physical contact spread healing power throughout the body, if Steven was describing his powers correctly. After all, the Connie had her eyes healed after she and Steven shared the same juice box (Steven always ranted about how he discovered his new powers for days). The healing power must spread through the entire body regardless of where it is applied, which means that Onion could easily fake an injury for Steven to heal.

The problem then lied in getting his Gem to bond properly to him.

Onion climbed out of his Secrets room, bounced off his bed, and walked out of his bedroom. Mother was busy painting in the garage, apparently, so Onion had virtually free reign of the kitchen. Onion quietly climbed up the counters, and opened the cupboard containing the knife block (Mother had hidden the knives after a particularly nasty incident, but Onion had found the new hiding place in less than a day). Onion pulled out the smallest sharp knife and scurried to the bathroom.

Onion opened the medicine cabinet and retrieved gauze, disinfectant, and other medical supplies. Onion then locked the door and fell into the familiar routine of setting up an impromptu medical table, muscle memory from his childhood surgery phase. As he adjusted the old shaving mirror to give himself a better angle, he caught sight of his face. He touched the smooth flesh of his cheek inquisitively. He was originally intending to put his gem in the same spot as Steven’s but looking at his face he got a different idea. His face just seemed so empty, and the teardrop shape of his Gem would instill such a nice sense of irony. It was almost beckoning him to put it there. In fact, picturing it now, there was a strange sort of beauty in having his Gem on his face.

Onion picked up the rubbing alcohol and cotton balls, and proceeded to disinfect his left cheek, using the mirror to help guide himself. As an afterthought, he also sterilized the gem. (One nasty toe infection caused bad memories) Taking a deep breath, he picked up the small knife, and proceeded to slice a small cut diagonally down his cheek, starting just below his cheekbone (bracing his elbow on the table, one slip could cost him an eye. Safety first, obviously). He prodded the skin around the cut experimentally, then picked up his Gem. It fitted perfectly along the cut he had made.

Onion picked the knife back up, and mentally prepared himself. He gently began widening the cut so that the Gem could fit somewhat inside. Severed capillaries started leaking blood which began to drip down his cheek, lending a macabre image of bloodied tears. The pain began to become somewhat inconveniencing, so Onion put down the knife and examined his work. He placed his Gem on the cut, and this time he could feel it brushing against the inside of his skin. 

Grabbing the small bandages that Mother had bought (He liked the cartoon characters), Onion unwrapped one and applied it so that his Gem stayed on his cheek without his hand holding it there. Onion then picked up some gauze and folded over itself to soak up any excess blood, then picked up a big bandage (no cartoon characters on this size, which made Onion slightly disappointed) and secured the wrappings on top of the cut. The gauze hid the Gem from sight, so now it just looked like Onion had had a small injury and had messily wrapped it.

Next, Onion went to go see Steven. He knew he would need Steven to think Onion had an injury, but if Steven saw the Gem he would be incredibly suspicious. Somehow, Onion would have to get an injury that would cause Steven to disregard the messy bandages on his face. Onion put on his scooter helmet, adjusting it so the straps helped hide the bandages. Now that he was thinking about it, the scooter actually gave him an idea.

Onion rode down the street to Steven’s cabin. Steven and the others were most likely back by now, which meant that Onion could show himself. In fact, Onion could make out Steven walking along the beach by his house. Making his way over to Steven, Onion allowed the tires to screech somewhat along the boardwalk to get Steven’s attention. Steven looked up, confused, until he noticed Onion on his scooter.

“Oh, hey Onion! Was that you on our mission? How did you get there?” 

Steven was understandably confused, so Onion just shrugged to placate him. Steven generally accepted when Onion wasn’t willing to communicate anything, so he would likely drop the subject. 

Now, for his Plan. Onion put on an excited expression and started accelerating toward the edge of the boardwalk.

“Wait, Onion! There’s no ramp! You gotta stop!” Onion didn’t stop.

Onion carefully monitored his speed such that when he rode off the boardwalk, he would land in a way that looked painful, but he had practiced tucking and rolling to the point where such a fall would be virtually painless. Ignoring Steven’s screams, Onion rode off the boardwalk, jumped off the scooter, and landed in the sand.

Instantly, Steven was running towards him. Onion faked a pained expression and held out his ankle towards Steven.

“Oh, Onion! Are you okay?” Steven asked, somewhat panicked.

Onion frowned, then pointed at his ankle.

“Oh no! Is it broken?”

Onion shook his head quickly. Onion wasn’t one to be unnecessarily mean. No need to make Steven more panicked than necessary.

“Just sprained then?”

Onion nodded.

“Okay, do you want me to use my healing powers?” Steven unconsciously straightened up in pride when he said “healing powers.” Clearly, he was still excited any chance he got to use his Gem powers.

Onion just nodded again.

“Great! Just hold still.” Steven licked his palm and placed it on Onion’s ankle. Instantly, he could feel the tingle of the Magic spreading up his leg. Onion unconsciously shuddered as the sensation spread up his torso, then seemed to concentrate at his cheek. He could feel the magic working to knit his flesh back together, but it clearly was having trouble. The magic was concentrating itself to uncomfortable levels, despite the easing of the residual pain. Finally, the magic faded. Onion felt quite rejuvenated.

Suddenly, Steven piped up. “Man, I’m super tired all of a sudden. Maybe I exhausted myself from the mission. I’d better go home, unless you still want to hang out, Onion?” Steven did look visibly exhausted. Onion pointedly ignored the thought of whether the use of magic had harmed Steven. He had probably not been expecting to use so much magic, although he didn’t seem to realize it himself.

Onion smiled in thanks to Steven, then got up and brushed himself off. He shook his head in a dismissing gesture, allowing Steven to recuperate at home.

“Great! Bye Onion!” Steven said as he walked away.

Onion smiled as he looked at Steven’s retreating form. His plan so far seemed to have worked. He quickly got back on his scooter and navigated back home to observe the Gem again. Whereas Onion was too preoccupied to notice his surroundings the last time he rode home, this time he was almost hyper aware. His eyes were constantly drawn to the various familiar landmarks as he made his way home. The various people walking about caught his attention despite his urgency in getting home.

Finally, he made it. Mother was still in the garage, so Onion unceremoniously went back to his Secrets room. Now that he was here, however, he started to feel somewhat uncomfortable. The Gem on his cheek was still tingling and the bandages itched, so he quickly removed the various bandages and pulled out the small mirror.

Surely enough, his cut was fully healed, without any sort of scarring whatsoever. The difference was however, that as his skin approached where the gem lay, it seemed to have fused seamlessly to the edge of the Gem. He prodded it experimentally. The Gem did not give. Onion gripped the smooth sides and gave a tentative tug. Just like how Steven’s Gem had, it did resisted pulling, as if it was part of his body.

While he was examining the Gem, he started to feel woozy. Onion did a quick mental self-evaluation. Nothing seemed to be amiss. He hadn’t fallen on his head when he had tried to capture Steven’s attention. However, his Gem was starting to tingle painfully. The Gem seemed to be drawing his attention more and more. Other thoughts faded into the background as his focus was solely pulled towards his Gem. He began to hear static in his ears as he continued to stare. Then his surroundings started to melt around him.

_**“HH EL L LO”** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now last time I drastically underestimated the amount of time it would take me to update.  
> You can probably expect the next chapter by next week, but its AP testing week so it might get delayed.  
> Thanks for all the supportive comments, by the way, it really helps motivate me to work!


	4. Introductions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Onion finds himself adrift in an endless void.
> 
> Thoughts are alarmingly easy to get lost in.

Onion snapped back to awareness.

He opened his eyes slowly, glancing around in confusion. At first, he thought he hadn’t opened his eyes properly, as his surroundings were completely dark, but even as he touched his eyelids to make sure they were open, his surroundings didn’t change. Although that wasn’t quite the right descriptor. Instead of inky black darkness, his surroundings seemed just empty, a blank void completely encompassing him. All around him was complete and utter emptiness. Onion glanced downward but couldn’t make out any sort of floor, though he could see his body below him. In fact, he seemed to just be suspended in the same infinite emptiness.

His brain, though, wouldn’t accept emptiness. Similar to in the darkness of his room, Onion’s mind needed to fill the absence up with something. Now that he was consciously thinking about his vision, his mind filled the void with static. Constantly shifting little dots, that floated around each other in a chaotic display of randomness. As he kept looking, the dots shifted into patterns. Tessellated triangles of an indescribable color began rotating around his center of vision, where the dots had coalesced into a strange blue shape.

Ripping his attention away from the static in front of him, Onion turned to his other senses for a sense of direction. Although as he turned his attention to his hearing, he could feel his brain rushing to supply background noise to fill up the complete and utter emptiness of the void. The ringing noise was incessant, even when he tried making some experimental humming noises to try to break the overwhelming silence.

Similarly, whenever he turned his attention to his other senses, the complete emptiness causes his brain to supply white noise to cover up the void, which caused continued distraction. Onion longed for something concrete to give him something to think about, but the void was unabating.

Adrift in the strange void, Onion turned his thoughts inward. How did he get here? The last thing he remembered was having succeeded in attaching his Gem to his body, just like Steven had. Something must have gone wrong.

_His Gem_. Suddenly reminded, Onion put his hand to his cheek. Instead of the new cool smoothness of a crystalline stone, he just felt the warmth and faint roughness of skin. What had happened to his Gem? Although now that he was inspecting himself, he didn’t quite feel right. While normally his body carried the normal weight of flesh, here he felt light and free. Almost as if he was a being of thought. Onion needed to get to the bottom of this.

Steven’s Gem was on his stomach. Was that where it had to be for the Gem to work right? No, that couldn’t be right. Steven’s Gem parents had their Gems on different locations. But maybe that was how it worked for Hybrids? Either way, he had felt a strange desire for putting it on his cheek. That had felt _right_. Storing the topic for now, Onion tried to think about something else that could have been wrong.

The continuous screeching in his ears started to distract him. Why was he in a void? The patterns had resolved into a tessellated system of shifting hexagons for now. Onion lost himself in the evolving patterns.

Maybe there was something he was missing? Steven had gotten his Gem at birth, so it would be understandable if he had forgotten an important part of hybrid-making. Some sort of priming system perhaps? Specialized Gem tools? Now that he was thinking about it, there was so much Onion didn’t understand about the Gems. All he really knew was whatever he could glean from Steven, and what he observed directly from the Gems themselves. If Onion wanted to effectively use the Gem power, he would need a way to learn more about Gem tools and history.

Suddenly, a burst of static flashed around him, snapping him out of his thoughts. The void, instead of an inky blackness, suddenly seemed too bright, an endless expanse of light. Static buzzed around him, extremely loud, completely distinct from the background noise his brain used to fill the emptiness. Onion shut his eyes from the light and tried to cover his ears, but the flash of whatever that was suddenly faded away. All around him was the empty void he was familiar with.

_What was that?_

Onion was confused, but at least he had something concrete to think about. Clearly, there was something in the void with him. Was it the Gem? Or was it something nefarious? Either way, clearly there wasn’t just nothing in the void. The burst of static wasn’t accompanied by anything painful, other than the discomfort that loud sounds and lights usually brought. Did this mean that whatever it was didn’t want to hurt him? Onion kept trying to think about it, but there wasn’t really anything else for him to go on. He was completely out of his depth here.

Try as he might to keep thinking, there was not any other data to go off yet. Onion could feel his thoughts slowing down, running out of new ideas to process, until his train of thought halted. Without any more external stimulus, Onion returned to observing the void around him, passively drifting through ever more complex hallucinations.

Without warning, the flash of static returned. Having experienced it once before, Onion tried to find something new. While everything buzzed around him, Onion sifted through the static for any sort of pattern or message. The bright lights and crushing static made focusing difficult, but Onion could just barely make out vague dissonant whispers. He strained to make out what was being said, but all too soon the lights and static shut off, throwing Onion back into the void.

Fortunately, Onion had a lot more information to process. The whispers were new, implying that someone or something was trying to communicate with him. He couldn’t make out what words were being said, but hopefully if the whispers return, he can start to make it out. Based on the two flashes, Onion thought that whatever was trying to communicate with him wasn’t malevolent. The bright lights and overpowering static, while definitely painful on his eyes and ears, probably wasn’t intentional. Something was trying to communicate with him with those whispers, and the bright lights and loud sounds were likely unintentional byproducts.  
The question, Onion pondered, was who or what was trying to communicate with him. He was stuck in this empty void, so perhaps they were trying to pull him out? Onion still didn’t really know how he got here, so he had even less of an idea how he would get out. Absently, Onion tried waking himself up in the same way he could in his normal dreams, but his consciousness was firmly lodged in this strange void.

Maybe they were also stuck in the void with Onion and was trying to escape. Onion tried to fill the space around him with lights and static but failed. Clearly whatever it was had more power than Onion did, or at least a different kind of power. Onion felt a rare flash of frustration. All of the time he spent trying to unlock the Gem power, and still all these powers were just out of reach.

Again, the lights and static returned, along with the whispers. This time, however, the whispers seemed more distinct. Onion focused as hard as he could on the whispers, and now he could just barely make out words.

_“E mm pty. Llon n lly. Sc a a rred.”_

That was…different from what Onion was expecting. This being was clearly lacking in mental capacity. The words being whispered were more of an instinctual cry for help. On the plus side, these whispers nearly confirmed that whatever it was stuck in the void same as him. It seemed desperate though, acting like a wounded animal.

The idea of an animal brought to mind the looming Gem monster that his Gem had taken. Was the whispering coming from the Gem? Was this his Gem trying to communicate with him? Onion had hoped that whenever he would interact with the Gem he would have the advantage, but Onion wouldn’t turn down a chance to finally interact with the Gem after being suspended in limbo for who knows how long.

He was plunged again into the void, but this time, he could just barely make out a pale blue dot floating on the edge of his vision. He turned his head to look at it, but it was still too far away to get a good picture of. It was the same color, though, as his Gem. The distant blue light, the animalistic mentality of the whispers, it all combined into a very strange image. Clearly him and the Gem were stuck together in this strange place.

Now that Onion could finally see something in the void, he strove to get closer. Curious flailing of his arms had proved fruitless, but as he focused on the blue light he could see it getting closer. Concentration on getting closer was causing his body to move through the void in the direction he sought.

He drifted slowly through the void in the direction of that pale blue dot. The dot was too dim and too far away for him to estimate how long it would take for him to get there. He could see the dot getting marginally brighter and bigger, but his progress was much slower than he liked it. Absently, he glanced around to see if anything else had changed, but the void was still as dark and all-encompassing as ever, save for that pale blue beacon of hope for change. 

Time passed. Onion had no method of measuring time in the void, so he didn’t know if it had been as little as five minutes or as long as a half hour. Onion thought it hadn’t been longer than that but he couldn’t be sure. He kept drifting in the direction of the now brighter blue dot. Despite his clear progress, Onion wasn’t sure how much more time it would take. The dot had grown in size considerably, signaling his progress, but he was still considerably far away.

The shifting patterns still infringed on the edges of his vision where the void reigned supreme. Blinking his eyes to try and force those patterns away, he focused again on the dot. This time, however, he noticed he was close enough for his depth perception to kick in. Closing one eye, then the other, he could indeed notice the slight shift that signaled that he was getting close. Onion was filled with excitement. The dot was getting brighter and brighter. _It seems almost too bright, actually._

Suddenly, the dot began brightening at an extremely fast rate. Onion put his hand up to help shield the light but was too slow to block the bright flash the dot gave off. Blinking his eyes to get rid of the afterimages, he suddenly noticed that the whole void around him had filled with the same light he had experienced before, along with the sudden wave of crushing static. Now that he was closer, he could make out the strange whispers inside much easier.

_“Ss tt ucck. Eem m ptyy. Nee ed. FRE E EDO OM”_

The choppy, dissonant whispers were getting progressively more desperate, Onion noticed. As the lights and static faded once more, and he was placed again in the void, Onion could still see the much dimmer blue dot in his sights. Its brightness fluctuated wildly, before settling down to a feeble blue glow. He drifted closer and closer, until he could see the object clearly. 

It was indeed his Gem. The same aquamarine teardrop that he had spent so much time looking at. He pondered a bit, then cautiously brought the Gem into his gentle hands. As it touched his skin, he could feel the shock and cautiousness of the being inside the Gem. In fact, he could somehow register all the strong emotions that were fluttering around the confused Gem.

Trying to calm the Gem down, Onion project a feeling of calmness and relaxation. He could almost feel the Gem somehow relaxing into his touch. He still felt the confusion, but it was much less overwhelming. Onion tried to project a feeling of collection and control, but he could still feel his lingering confusion and worry leaking through. Surprisingly, the Gem still accepted those emotions, and he could tell the Gem made up its mind.

With a sense of finality, he brought the Gem closer to his core. He could feel their emotions and thoughts start to tangle with each other. Along with the new strong feelings, Onion could also begin to feel the static that was plaguing the Gem. He almost felt pity for the Gem, but he could tell that the Gem, even in its reduced mental state would have none of it.

Although, with both him and the gem shouldering the burden of the crushing static, he could tell that both of them were much less uncomfortable than when the Gem had it alone and when Onion had to witness its outbursts. The static was bearable, and Onion could focus on how his emotions and thoughts interacted with those of the Gem. The Gem was much more complicated than Onion had ever thought it to be, but he found a strange sense of camaraderie with the Gem, with both of them stuck with each other in the void.

Deep in thought, Onion absently raised the Gem to the cheek it had resided in before they had arrived in the void. He could immediately recognize the shock and slight suspicion in the Gem, so he hesitated, but before he could ask the Gem it gave of a wave of confirmation and, strangely, need. As he brought it closer to his cheek, he could feel the interactions between his feelings and the Gem’s grow stronger and more chaotic, before it fell into a strange sort of harmony.

The Gem met his flesh.

Onion woke up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to adequately describe what sensory deprivation does to the mind, but I probably didn't get it quite right.  
> If you haven't tried it yet, cut a ping pong ball in half and put it over your eyes. This can cause trippy hallucinations. (If you don't have a ping pong ball pressing on the sides of your eyes should also work but its kind of painful and probably bad for you)  
> Also: Sorry about the long wait. This chapter was very hard to write. Next chapter is going to be an interlude of sorts, where we see what the Crystal Gems are thinking. I might put similar interludes every 5 chapters, but lets just get that far first.


	5. Intermission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garnet was confused
> 
> Pearl was tired
> 
> Amethyst was hungry
> 
> Follow the Crystal Gems as they deal with the aftermath of the Gem battle

Garnet was confused.

Her future vision lent her a great degree of insight, making surprise or confusion very uncommon. She had spent centuries slowly cultivating an aura of calmness and surety. She moved with decisiveness, efficiently solving problems as they arrived. She used her gifts to make plans, act quickly, and dispose of conflicts before they came to full power.

She was stumped.

During the battle, she was wildly scanning through the short-term future, looking for openings and battle tactics that would lead to poofing the Gem as quickly as possible without anybody getting hurt. She called out warnings when the Gem was about to strike, and guided Pearl and Amethyst to positions where they could intercept the greatest portion of possibilities. She was calm, confident, and nothing could surprise her.

And the Onion had appeared in the middle of nowhere and tackled the Gem. So much for that.

She was so focused on finding the futures where they beat the Gem safely that she didn’t bother to look further. In hindsight, she should have scanned the major possibilities at least once. In her own defense, nothing truly important had ever happened after they poofed the Gem before in their missions. She was busy keeping everyone safe. Nobody would blame her.

Even if she had a reasonable defense, Garnet still blamed herself. Even if she met normal expectations she still could have done better as one of the few Gems remaining from the Rebellion. Because if she wasn’t exceptional, then she wasn’t worthy to still be one of the few Gems alive and sane.

_No, stop, don’t go there._

It was exceedingly rare for Garnet to be truly surprised by something. The closest she regularly got to surprise was when a reasonably unlikely possibility occurred instead of a more likely timeline. Much more common was the feeling of dread for when something painful inevitably comes to pass, or the feeling of helplessness when nothing she can do can prevent something from happening. There was feelings of annoyance when the future decides to take an inconvenient route to deliver something, and feelings of hope when visualizing her goal.

As she led the Gems and Steven with cleanup, she was consciously projecting an air of calm. Inside, though, she was reeling. Missing such an important event in the timeline was practically inexcusable. She knew better now though, so if she improved then Pearl and Amethyst would still see her as a leader. She just had to keep looking calm and stoic, so they wouldn’t catch on to her slip. 

Never before had she been so grateful for her visor. Underneath them, her third eye was fluttering about rapidly, searching the future so nothing else could surprise her. Her momentary slip had caused her to hyper fixate on the future, making sure that she could See what was going to happen. It was calming, she supposed, to be able to See clearly what was going to happen and seeing the future merge with the present, though probably not a healthy way of coping. Already she could feel herself starting to be overwhelmed.

No matter what happened to her though, Pearl, Amethyst, and Steven needed a leader. With Rose gone, that duty fell to her. And she needed to show the same strength that Rose had. That meant they couldn’t notice her mistake. She needed to be diligent. She needed to fulfill her duty.

_She needed to fulfill her duty to her Diamond. Imperfections would lead her to be shattered. She searched the future diligently, double and triple checking to make sure her reports were accurate. She immersed herself in the timeline, navigating every single detail, noting points where her Diamond would want to hear. A single failure would mean her end._

_She needed to fulfill her duty to her Sapphire. Having had been one of the few chosen to guard such a high-class gem, she needed to be exceptional. Mistakes would not be tolerated. She diligently kept her awareness spread out around her. Relaxing, while tempting, would mean shattering if she missed anything that could be a threat. A single failure would mean her end._

Garnet blinked the memories away. This situation was different. She chose to follow Rose Quartz. Rose had given her freedom, had led a movement of justice and righteousness. She had been happy to see Ruby and Sapphire together and had encouraged their relationship’s growth. She deserved to be followed, she deserved Garnets full abilities. And now that she was gone, Garnet had to fulfill what she started.

Garnet was still confused. She needed time to think. Once they arrived at the Temple, she murmured an apology to Pearl and Amethyst, and briskly walked back to her room. She needed to center herself. The door closed behind her. _Today turned out to be complicated_ , she thought. 

Pearl was tired.

After thousands of years of missions, Pearl thought she would be used to seeing her friends corrupted like this. And for the most part, she was over it. She could pretend that the big monster attacking was just that: a monster. Something to be vanquished, then sent away to be dealt with later.

But seeing Aquamarine like…this. It stirred up emotions that Pearl had thought she had buried for good.

Before, Pearl could ignore what happened. Rationally, Pearl knew that Aquamarine was corrupted just like all the other Gems in Homeworld’s final attack (Or worse, shattered, just another casualty of war). But without seeing her, Pearl could bury that cold truth amid a sea of ambiguity.

Now, though, there was no denying it. 

Pearl generally tried not to match the Gems they captured with her friends from the rebellion. It just led to trips down memories she needed to keep locked up. And then she would just get anxious about the friends whose Gems she hadn’t found yet. She would cycle through those negative feelings until she was completely overwhelmed. Better, then, to just ignore it.

Seeing Aquamarine, though, ripped those memories to the forefront of her mind. Try as she might, she couldn’t ignore those flashes of memories. Aquamarine telling a joke, and the whole room erupting in laughter. Aquamarine sending a small smile her way, before she flew off for reconnaissance. Aquamarine screaming, as the Diamond’s song ripped through her consciousness, twisting her into a mutant monster.

Pearl forcibly shut off her imagination. She knew she hadn’t seen Aquamarine be corrupted, and even if she did it wouldn’t have been that violent. Or would it, some traitorous part of her mind wondered. After all, Rose’s shield had completely enveloped them. After she opened her eyes, Rose was pulling her away to the warp. She hadn’t seen anybody in the process of being corrupted before, only the end results.

She couldn’t let herself be trapped in her thoughts like this. She needed a distraction. When Steven had suggested cleaning up the forest, she threw herself into the task. Cleaning, organizing, making sure things were safe, they all helped calm herself down. Falling into the familiar mindset, she breezed through the cleanup efforts. But once things were finished and all animals were safe, her traitorous thoughts began to open back up.

As they walked back to the warp, Pearl couldn’t help but start to relive her memories of Aquamarine. Was she a good friend? A good teammate? She let the memories roll through her head. In retrospect, she could easily identify times where she wasn’t the best friend. She tried not to dwell on the past (Rose preferred thinking in the now), but her fortitude was lacking now.

Aquamarine was certainly a different Gem than she was used to. Not only in type (Aquamarines rarely left the administrative offices they worked in, so they had little direct contact with the rebellion), but also in personality. Aquamarine was difficult to get close to, with her different sense of humor and abrasive personality, but once they were on friendly terms, she proved to be an invaluable friend. The same qualities that made her difficult to approach also made her such a loyal and helpful friend and teammate. 

It was an open secret in the rebellion that Aquamarine’s face rarely betrayed her true emotions. She wore cuteness and happiness like a mask, making it jarring whenever she let more negative emotions through. Despite this, her fairly-like appearance and generally positive outward demeanor helped morale significantly among the rebellion. 

_A mask…_ Pearl contemplated Aquamarine’s emotions. She rarely opened up to reveal her true feelings, and even then, it was possible that it was another mask. Was Aquamarine truly happy in the rebellion? Was Aquamarine even her friend? She tried to think of a time when Aquamarine wore a genuine smile. Time and time again, she could only find the happy façade. As she was scanning through her memories, the picture of Aquamarine’s corrupted form sprang up unbidden. Was this Aquamarine’s true form? Was all she knew just another mask?

Pearl shook her head, trying to free herself from those thoughts. Aquamarine was a genuine friend. The Diamonds had ripped through Aquamarine with their Song, breaking her and replacing her with the strange butterfly-looking monster.

Still, though, whenever Pearl felt Aquamarine loosening her mask, it was only to reveal sadness, despair, or disappointment. Celebrations. She had to be happy during celebrations, right? When they had conquered a battle, driving Homeworld ever further back. Pearl scanned through those memories, but Aquamarine was strangely absent from all of them. The only time Aquamarine looked genuinely joyous was…

…was when Homeworld had sounded the final retreat.

Was that how it ended for Aquamarine? Finally happy, both inside and out, only to have her sanity ripped away? Her life’s work satisfied, but never able to witness their success?

Pearl needed a distraction. She kept trying to remove herself from that train of thought, only for it to pick her back up. She barely noticed the warp back to the Temple, being so lost in thought. She absently walked back through the door to her room. There was probably something to organize in there to keep her mind off things. If not, she could look through her Gem for things to sort, though her subconscious was probably doing that anyways. _Today turned out awful_ , she thought.

Amethyst was hungry.

This mission was particularly nasty, and to add to it, they had to deal with almost a hundred trapped animals that Steven insisted they save. Amethyst loved his bleeding heart, sure, but sometimes he created distractions that they would normally pass over.

She knew Gems didn’t need to eat, but after centuries of rewarding herself with exotic food after she finished something significant, she developed what Pearl would probably call a pavlovian response. The sense of accomplishment she would normally feel was muted with a panging urge for something to consume. She tried the webbing from the weird butterfly monster (when Pearl wasn’t looking, of course) but it didn’t have much of a taste and an annoying stringy texture. She was looking for something stronger.

Absently, she rummaged through her room. She remembered leaving a half-finished can of Scrubbing Bubbles in here somewhere which sounded particularly good after the fight. As much as she enjoyed eating tough materials, she was just too tired to go for anything other than simple to eat foods. The aerosol can made consumption easy, by just holding the can up and spraying directly into her mouth.

She saw a flash of color inside one of the piles, and, thinking it was the treat she was looking for, pulled it out. Instead of the cleaning product, though, it was just a set of paints.

Amethyst rarely ate paint, out of respect for Vidalia. She always got frustrated when she was looking for a particular color only to find Amethyst licking it off her fingers. Vidalia’s art was so amazing though, so it more than made up for stifling her eating habits.

Thinking about Vidalia reminded Amethyst of the strange encounter they had with Onion.

Contrary to what people think upon meeting her, Amethyst is actually quite observant and intelligent. Sure, she enjoys eating and making messes, and she knows her organizational system doesn’t really make sense to other people. Pearl in particular still gets really hung up on how she acts. 

When Onion had burst out of the trees and grabbed the Gem, Amethyst wasn’t completely surprised. Sure, a human appearing during Gem conflicts was rare, but Onion was certainly the most likely candidate. Onion had quite the habit of getting into scenarios he was much too young for. Probably. Amethyst didn’t really know what was appropriate for human children, but Onion seemed much too mature for his age. No other human child had ever been so much trouble for the Crystal Gems (maybe no other human, ever. Amethyst remembered the duplicator incident). 

Plus, they were certainly much too far from civilization, Beach City especially, for any human to likely be out here. Garnet and Pearl had seemed to dismiss it in favor of protecting the Gem, but Amethyst was still somewhat thoughtful. Onion being there wasn’t completely impossible given his history, but he wouldn’t have reason to do so unless he had some underlying reason. But Steven had bubbled the Gem, so Onion didn’t get anything. Maybe he just wanted to watch? Amethyst didn’t really know. Garnet seemed to think it was fine, so Amethyst dismissed it.

Speaking of Steven, she should probably check on him. Garnet was much better equipped for Gem matters, and Pearl had seemed really out of it since the battle ended. They had probably went off to do their own thing, and Steven probably needed to talk to someone after finishing the mission. Steven was probably hungry too, so they could eat food together. Putting Onion out of her mind for now, Amethyst walked back out of her room.

“Hey, whaddup Ste-man?”

Steven was clearly still giddy despite being tired. Amethyst went and made sandwiches for the both of them while Steven started talking. He was clearly excited about having finished a real mission with them. Amethyst felt happy that Steven was enjoying himself. Though, as she brought the sandwiches back (PB&J for Steven, pickles and the old Mustard they had for herself), Steven seemed a bit pensive.

“Hey, Steven, is something on your mind?” Amethyst inquired. She always felt it was best to just cut right to the point instead of dancing around it.

“Well it’s just, do you think I did okay?” Steven was clearly worried about something. About what, though Amethyst didn’t really know. He did a great job!

“Steven-”

“It’s just, I didn’t really do anything! I just stood there! Everything was going too fast, and I was getting overwhelmed. You guys were calm, and just took care of the monster super fast! You didn’t really even need me!”

“Whoa, Steven, calm down!” Steven was clearly starting to panic. Amethyst started to reassure him. “You did great! You defended yourself with the shield, so we knew you would be okay while we fought the Gem. And when we defeated it, you were the one to bubble it and send it to the temple!”

“Yeah, I know, but any of you could have done that. I didn’t contribute anything to the fight! Did you see me when the monster first looked at us, I was completely frozen!”

“Hey, Garnet couldn’t really do anything either, remember? Didn’t you see how she couldn’t reach the monster? It could fly, so Garnet couldn’t really fight it. Sometimes, you won’t be able to be a part of the fight, but that doesn’t mean your worthless, okay Steven? Plus, I froze up too when those creepy eyes focused on me, so I definitely don't blame you! 

“I guess…”

“In fact, let me tell you something. I actually felt safer with you there. If our Gems got damaged somehow, or we got caught, your healing powers would save us without having to go through the trouble of going to the fountain. We could get right back into the fight, and we wouldn’t have to retreat. Without you here, we might have had to retreat, but with you here, we could just keep fighting. Even if you don’t feel it, you are a really important part of the team, ya know?”

Inspirational speeches weren’t really Amethyst’s forte, but Amethyst just spoke from the heart. Plus, it sounded like Steven really needed to hear this, and Pearl and Garnet were preoccupied.

Steven looked visibly happier. “Thanks, Amethyst!”

Amethyst smiled. “Your welcome! Now, let’s eat!”

“That sandwich is really gross, Amethyst”

“Yeah, I know. That’s what makes it delicious!”

“Haha, ew!”

Steven clearly felt better. Amethyst was happy that he was feeling happy. Plus, she got to eat her sandwich, so it was a win-win. _Today really turned out okay_ , she thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoof I'm sorry I took so long. I had a zoom piano recital (which went about as well as you would expect)
> 
> This chapter was particularly hard to write. Pearl especially. That's part of why it took a while. The other part was that I was lazy.
> 
> Also: DO NOT EAT SCRUBBING BUBBLES. AMETHYST IS AN ALIEN. HUMANS WILL PROBABLY DIE IF THEY EAT THEM.
> 
> Expect another chapter by next week probably.


	6. Awakening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After an uncomfortably long trip in the odd void, Onion finally awakens.
> 
> Onion explores his and Aquamarines mental link through an expedition to Beach City Funland.

Onion snapped awake.

He was curled up on the floor of his secrets room. The hard wooden planks were uncomfortably pressing into his side. Looking around, everything seemed so bright. The lights he set up in his Secrets room, while relatively dim compared to the outdoors, was nonetheless a stark contrast to the darkness and emptiness of the void. Onion had been there for long enough that the change was starting. Not painful though. His physical body seemed to still be adjusted to the lighting, and not the darkness of the void. 

He felt oddly grounded. After having felt himself suspended weightlessly in that void, the pressure of the atmosphere and the crushing grip of gravity felt more acute than ever. He struggled, almost, to pull himself up. His muscles seemed oddly tense, probably from having laid on the floor for so long.

So what had happened? All the signs pointed to him falling unconscious or asleep. His body felt like it hadn’t left the room, and there was no conceivable way for him to have transported unceremoniously to a vacuum. He must have fallen unconscious, but the void was definitely not a normal dream. Even in his lucid dreams, his memories began to fade away as soon as he woke up, but the memories from the void felt like those from real life. Plus his normal methods of waking up in lucid dreams hadn’t worked, so something must have been different.

Not a dream then, but something more. 

He had interacted directly with the Gem right before he woke up. That memory was fresh in the forefront of his mind. In fact, even now, he could feel that second mental presence just behind his own.

Which meant…

He had succeeded.

Onion began to feel euphoria gradually filling his body. He had long since learned the art of disconnecting the emotions showing on his face and body from those inside of his brain. Onion didn’t seem to react to things the same way as other children his age, and before he had learned how to regulate his emotions, they tended to cause problems. On the plus side, it gave him the chance to learn how facial expressions were used to manipulate other people.

If he were more like Steven, though, he was sure that he would be giggling on the floor with ecstasy. Steven always wore his feelings on his face for all to see, which was as endearing as it was almost painful to look at.

Onion, though, retained his outward appearance of stoicism and being fully composed. Even as the euphoria began to bubble up through his chest and throat, he had long since severed the connection between his emotions and his body.

The presence at the back of his mind, though, seemed to react differently. He couldn’t help the giddiness and glee from coursing throughout his body, and he felt that the other presence could undoubtedly feel it. Onion caught a sudden sense of confusion emanating from somewhere outside his normal mental space.

Onion was certain that the other mental presence was the same Gem that he had bonded to. He had assumed that the Gem Monsters were somehow different from the sentient Gems that Steven had for a family, but his interactions with the Gem in the void proved that it was similarly intelligent, yet externally stunted somehow. Like some kind of macabre version of his own mental disconnect.

Onion could still sense that same static he heard in the void, although instead of hearing it, the noise now seemed to be connected to his sense of touch. Now that he was focusing on it, he could feel it silently buzzing through his body. Was it some sort of corruption? It would explain why Steven’s parents called the monsters “corrupted gems.”

As the euphoria continued to course unabated through Onion’s bloodstream, he could feel the flashes of panic and confusion from the Gem’s presence in his head. Onion was long since used to having uncontrollable surges of emotion, but it was clear that the Gem wasn’t familiar with the huge surge of euphoria that was undoubtedly flooding across whatever their connection was. 

The feelings that were leaking back through the link shifted suddenly. Instead of panic and confusion, the Gem seemed to be pulled along by Onion’s glee. Despite not knowing the source of joy, the Gem began to grow similarly euphoric. Except, this Gem seemed to be much more manic than Onion ever ended up.

Onion could feel his emotions pulling the Gem up, until the Gem was raised to the same level of euphoria that was coursing through him. Except the Gem didn’t stop where Onion was. It kept growing more and more manic and gleeful that Onion was starting to become concerned.

Onion’s euphoria had pulled the Gem into a similar depth of glee, but the Gem’s momentum didn’t stop there. Like belayers on an icy cliff, the Gem’s new height of euphoria began to pull Onion out of control along with it, leapfrogging their emotions to higher and more manic euphoria. He could feel himself being unnaturally stimulated to the point where he was starting to get overwhelmed.

Onion needed to regain control of this situation, _fast_.

The Euphoria was still uncontrollably surging through his body, spurred on by the odd feedback loop with the Gem, but now the feeling of dread was beginning to emerge. His own feelings of dread. He latched onto that emotion and _pulled_.

The Gem sputtered. He could feel it wavering in confusion. And suddenly, they both _crashed_.

Onion picked himself up off the floor again. He didn’t remember having fallen to the floor. Disoriented, he unsteadily got back to his feet. He suddenly felt a lot more exhausted. His emotions were an annoyance on the best of days, and emotion wrangling was one of his most hated things to do. Having not one but two minds to regulate was suddenly a daunting task. Not only that, but their emotion spirals seemed to work off each other, in a feedback loop of sorts. 

Fortunately, he was feeling much more calm now, and he couldn’t sense any strong emotion from the Gem. Unfortunately, he was still tense and a bit jittery. He needed something to help get his emotions back to a stable equilibrium. 

Onion decided to go for a comforting walk down the boardwalk to help calm himself down.

As Onion exited his room, he was made acutely aware again about the Gem still on his face. It felt wrong, now, to cover it up, but he didn’t want to arouse suspicion. Onion walked over to the bathroom to inspect his face. From across the room Onion supposed that the Gem looked similar to face paint of some sort, but Steven and his Gems would likely be able to notice if they caught sight of him. 

Onion resolved to walk close to Funland, just to be safe. It had lots of walls, making it easy to hide if Steven decides to walk over, plus there were often new trinkets that would help keep his interest and calm him down.

Onion exited the home, making sure to keep the blank right side of his face aimed towards Mother on the way out. He had long since made a habit of giving her plausible deniability to keep family drama to a minimum. Onion knew that Sour Cream was still conflicted about their family, and he liked it when his Older Brother stayed and enjoyed himself when they were all together. 

As Onion walked down the boardwalk, he could feel his emotions finally settling down to comforting emptiness. The methodical rhythm of his feet plodding along the old wooden planks helped empty his mind. Onion allowed himself to get lost in feeling the sensations of walking down the boardwalk. He subconsciously guided himself to the entrance of Beach City Funland, walking under the decorative gate and stopping near the first line of stalls. 

Onion pulled himself back to awareness to analyze his surroundings. The strange Smiley person didn’t seem to be around, so there wasn’t anybody to bother him. He walked around the stalls, looking to see if any of the prizes had been updated. Nothing seemed to have changed, but his eyes were oddly drawn toward the strange blue butterfly plushies hanging from the ceiling in one of the stalls. He stopped in front of it. Why was he so drawn to it?

Now that he was thinking about it, the odd, cartoonish design of the butterfly was more humanoid than insectoid (Which was sad, he would have liked to see what unholy abomination a sized up anatomically correct insect plushie would become), but that same cartoonish appearance made it resemble… _oh_ …

Looking at it again, he noted its striking similarity to the Gem’s corrupted form. The similar humanoid face structure, the humanoid limb structure (no hands though). This plushie didn’t have legs, and was considerably brighter and more simple in design, but the resemblance was rather uncanny.

The Gem’s presence in his mind leaked nervousness. If the Gem was anything like Onion, nervousness was an emotion he would never consciously share, so the Gem must have been substantially nervous, yet entranced. He hesitated, then consciously manifested a flash of apologetic feelings and experimentally shoved it towards the Gem.

The nervousness disappeared, replaced by a slight sense of confusion. Then, almost hesitatingly, a quick flash of gratitude came back.

Were they…communicating? The Gem clearly wasn’t yet capable of transmitting words, but the emotions that he was briefly feeling were certainly not of his own origin.

While he was thinking, the memory of their combined manic spiral flashed in his mind, followed by a quick burst of…was that remorse?

Onion absently sent back his feelings of indifference. He had much more pressing matters to think about. Emotions were a language that Onion didn’t particularly enjoy communicating in, but the Gem didn’t seem to be able to use words yet. Steven’s Gems obviously knew how to use words to communicate. Did they only learn language because of Steven? Did Gems need to learn language? Would the lingering corruption prevent this Gem from learning? How did the corruption work anyways? How-

An odd burst of calmness halted his train of thought. The oddity of it shut down his train of thought hard. Had his nervousness bled over so easily? He was unused to anything being able to decipher his emotional state, let alone a foreign Gem. It was a nice thing to do, though, and the Gem didn’t seem to be capable of asking for anything in return, so Onion was inclined to just roll with it. 

Regardless, the fact that they were communicating at all brought a new realm of things to explore. He tore his eyes from the cartoonish butterfly plush and continued his walk down the boardwalk.

As he meandered through the amusement park, he identified interesting things, and sent the mental image along with inquisitive feelings, and in turn, the Gem responded with a quick flash of its own emotion. The Ocean, for instance, received a feeling of safety and freedom. The stray Seagulls flying around brought an intense flash of annoyance. The cotton candy on display just caused confusion, but the more obviously edible food items instantly generated feelings of disgust.

With every “ _What do you think of…?_ ” prompt, the response came clearer, quicker, and more enthusiastic. The Gem, it seemed, was eager to be able to communicate. Not that Onion blamed it, the corrupted butterfly form clearly wasn’t very capable of talking, nor was any other Corrupted Gem that Onion got to witness. Regardless, Onion was gradually beginning to feel more comfortable and confident in their communication abilities.

Eventually, Onion arrived at the Hall of Mirrors. It was his favorite part of Funland by far. Every time he came here, even since he could barely walk, he would always seek out the Mirrors. One particular mirror, inconspicuously placed near the middle of the Hall, consistently drew his attention. Placing himself in front of it, he observed his distorted appearance.

In the face of the Mirror, positioned just right, Onion looked massively taller. The mirror was bent just right to massively stretch his legs to the point that Onion had to look up to even see his torso. As useful as his diminutive size was for stealth and disguise, he always wished to use the intimidation that Tall people possessed. This distorted reflection commanded immense intimidation that he was always in awe over. He sometimes dreamt of his Tall body dominating even the buildings around him, letting people know who their true ruler was.

As he looked up to fully appreciate his reflection, his gaze was drawn to the Gem still on his cheek. Instantly, he was hit with a wave of confusion. With an odd sense of detachment, he felt his eyes roaming across his face, analyzing the shape and memorizing the details. His gaze once more landed on his cheek with the Gem.

A moment of dawning comprehension. Followed by a massive wave of disgust, flooding Onion’s mind even more strongly than the euphoria loop had.

He immediately tore his eyes from his reflection, but the disgust was still cascading over his senses. Dazed, he walked out of the hall of mirrors. The sight of the Ocean helped calm down the Gem, but Onion was still reeling with the aftershocks. Quick bursts of disgust still prodded at the back of his mind as he quickly absconded out of the park.

The Ocean seemed to calm the Gem down, so Onion continued to walk along the coast. Eventually, the disgust tapered out into an unsettling calm. Onion sat in the sand, facing the water, trying to think about what happened.

A couple of hesitant mental prods confirmed that the Gem was no longer willing to communicate with him. Onion dazedly tried to figure out what had just happened. Clearly, the sight of their reflection had prompted a huge emotional reaction. Thinking about it, Onion figured that the Gem was revolted by having its Gem wielded by a Human. 

Steven had mentioned before that his Gem family often looked at him strangely, especially when he was younger. Steven talked about how his Mother had given him his Gem, but his family still acted strange about it. The Pearl was often the topic of choice when Steven complained about his discomfort surrounding his Gem. These Gems had clearly been around humans for decades before Steven came to be, but the Gem Onion had connected to probably hadn’t had the same experience.

And to some degree, Onion could understand why the Gem was so appalled. Most Humans Onion knew about seemed basic at best, and annoying and revolting at worst. If Onion’s talents were wielded by some other Human (the Lars being a prime example), Onion would be similarly revolted. Onion tried to share this with the Gem, but it was steadfastly not responding.

If the Gem was not going to communicate with him, Onion would have to get more Gem information from somewhere else, at least until the Gem was willing to open up again. And the prime source of Gem information would be…

Onion turned his head to look further down the beach. In the distance, Onion could see the silhouette of a huge rock hand poking out behind the large cliff.

_The Temple_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My Goodness this took way too long to get out
> 
> I don't have consistent access to a computer over the Summer, so I didn't really have the opportunity to get another chapter out. Now that school is starting again, I can probably upload at least a chapter a week.
> 
> I'll be editing a the last couple chapters over the next couple of days before I post the new chapter.
> 
> Also: Comments and Kudos feed my soul


	7. Exploration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Onion infiltrates the Temple and finds some valuable information.
> 
> Plans are being made, things are moving forward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up until now, I have been keeping the location in the timeline vague so I could decide later. Today is later.  
> This is a Season 2 fic, just before Keeping it Together (When the Crystal Gems find Peridot in the Kindergarten). I'm shuffling the times around just a little bit to accommodate them fighting Aquamarine, but now we have a stable spot in the timeline (Hooray!).

_This was a mistake_

Not infiltrating the Temple, no, that was one of Onion’s better decisions. He had gained some incredibly valuable information, allowing Onion to immediately draw out a relatively safe plan for going forward. Onion got exactly what he came for, making the mission a resounding success…

…If he could extricate himself from the rafters before Steven noticed him.

How did he get in this situation?

Onion dusted himself off after having entered Steven’s house through the upstairs window. The climb up the supporting stone hand statue wasn’t too difficult. Even the steep stone thumb of the statue that led close to the roof was simple to scale in the current weather. The window was unlocked too, which was a bonus. 

The Steven and the Amethyst were both sitting up at the kitchen table. Their seats were both thankfully angled away from Onion’s position in the bedroom. The Pearl and Garnet seemed to be missing for now. Onion quickly scanned his surroundings, then looked back at Steven.

Bread crumbs and empty plates in front of them implied that they had been eating, but they were still deep in conversation. The Amethyst was idly chasing the crumbs in front of her with her fingers, which had – were those mouths? – tiny mouths on the fingertips. Onion faltered a bit, staring at the image for a bit too long before forcing his eyes away.

As he was debating how he would proceed, the large door slid open. The tall one, Pearl, walked out. She seemed unusually skittish and fidgety. That could be either good or bad for him. If Pearl was being paranoid, she would be more likely to notice Onion from his hiding spot, but if she was preoccupied with something else, she would be less perceptive and, potentially, willing to talk about useful information. That assumed, of course, that she wasn’t preoccupied with Onion’s appearance in the woods.

Pearl walked over to the kitchen table where Steven and Amethyst were seated. Steven and Amethyst both started to talk, but Pearl seemed to be limited to one-word responses for now. That didn’t stop them from trying to engage Pearl in their conversation. Unfortunately, Onion knew that Pearl had much more useful information than Steven or Amethyst right now. 

As much as the lack of material irked him, Onion could at some level sympathize with Pearl. Steven and Amethyst hadn’t taken the hint yet and were still repeatedly trying to pry a bigger response from her.

Abruptly, the large door opened a second time, revealing the intimidating figure of Garnet. Steven and Amethyst went silent, looking over at her. It looked like they were expecting her to say something, but for now she was being silent as well. She slowly yet confidently strode over to the kitchen table and sat down.

After an uncomfortably long silence (for Onion anyway) Garnet spoke up.

“Let’s talk about the mission. Steven, tell us how you think you did.”

Steven looked over at Amethyst briefly before answering. “Well, I think it went pretty well. We caught and bubbled the gem, and none of us got hurt too bad! I kinda feel bad though, that I couldn’t help more in the fight…”

“Well then, tell me what you would do next time”

“I guess I just need to be quicker to respond, I mean, I was really taken off guard by how suddenly everything went crazy. There was just too much going on too quickly.” Steven seemed reluctant to answer, yet definitely truthful.

A beat passed. Then-

“Wait, next time?” 

Garnet chuckled. “The Corrupted Gem attacks aren’t letting up while we are searching for Peridot, which means that we have more work to do. Having another team member would be a great help.”

Onion couldn’t see them, but he knew that Steven had stars in his eyes. He was definitely excited to be more involved in the Gem side of his family. Onion felt an odd sense of discomfort. Was that…Jealousy?

Amethyst decided to use that moment to speak up. “Speaking of the P-Dot, what are we gonna do about her? Did you find any leads on her, G-Squad?”

The corners of Garnets corners twitched down, but before she could say anything, Steven jumped in.

“I know! When we talked in the Kindergarten, Peridot mentioned how mad she was that we kept breaking her stuff. Maybe if we break more stuff, she will show up! And then we can talk again!”

For the first time, Pearl spoke up. “Kindergarten… Could she be after the injectors? She might decide to reactivate the Kindergarten. She is a technician, so it is definitely within her abilities…”

It went quiet for a bit, though not awkwardly so. Steven and Pearl (Garnet had glasses, so Onion couldn’t tell) both hesitantly glanced at Amethyst before Garnet continued the conversation.

“Well, if she is preparing to restart the Kindergarten, we won’t be able to stop her right now. It’s getting late (Onion hadn’t noticed), so if we go now, it will be dark before we can properly explore. Peridot will have the positional advantage, and one of us will run the risk of getting poofed by her before we can properly confront each other.”

“So then what do we do?” inquired Amethyst.

“We wait. Restarting the Kindergarten will take time. We will strike tomorrow. As for now, lets get some rest, recover from the monster battle, and prepare for a confrontation with Peridot.” Garnet stood up, and walked back to the Temple door. She entered, but then stopped and turned slightly. “Good night, Steven,” she said endearingly, as the temple door closed behind her.

Following her lead, Pearl stood up, gave a small smile to Steven (and grabbed his and Amethyst’s empty plates), then turned and went through her door. Amethyst gave one last side hug to Steven before sighing and going into her room, leaving Steven alone.

Onion thought about what he had heard. This Peridot character wasn’t unheard of, even in the town at large. When the giant hand warship had crashed on the beach, the Gems had to put out reassuring statements about what was happening. They kept it frustratingly vague, but the name Peridot was mentioned several times. 

Onion thought about what Steven had mentioned about Peridot. He seemed to avoid talking about the specifics of when he was captured by the giant green hand ship, but he did bring up the Jasper and the Peridot. From what Onion understood, the Jasper was the muscle of the operation, but the Peridot was the brains.

That meant that Peridot would be an extremely valuable source of information if Onion could interact with her. If she wasn’t affiliated with the Crystal Gems, then she would serve as a good second source to help discern the truth.

Onion paused his thinking when Steven abruptly stood up and turned around. Onion froze, making sure that he was out of sight. Steven wasn’t very perceptive, so Onion rarely got caught anymore, but if Steven came any closer, he might spot him before he got the chance to move. 

When Steven’s line of sight was blocked by the stairs as he moved towards his bedroom, Onion quickly scaled the furniture up to the crossbeams. The ceiling space was open, but the crossbeams were relatively thick, meaning that Steven wouldn’t notice him unless Onion made a reason for him to look up.

So then, Onion had a plan. The Gems were finished with their tasks for the day, which meant that there was no risk of being spotted at any of the Gem sites. This left the world open for Onion to find the Peridot character that was so intriguing. The Gems inadvertently confirmed for Onion that his next quarry would be found in the Kindergarten.

The only problem, though, would be accessing the warp network again. The pad in the temple couldn’t be accessed without going through the house, and Steven was comfortably situated inside. Onion could wait until he was asleep, but then Mother would get suspicious that he was out so late. No, Onion needed to find something else.

Onion suddenly remembered the Statue. He often saw figures up on the upper left hand of the Statue. He never saw people climbing up and down, and there was a brief moment in his memory of a blue flash up there. Now that he was thinking about it, it had to have been another warp pad. As for why the Gems had one there, Onion didn’t know, but it worked fine for his plans.

Onion still had to get down from the crossbeams and exit the house without Steven noticing. He could try to jump down by the window and act like he just jumped in, but then that ran the risk of Steven noticing the Gem still on his cheek. He could try to slide down close to the front door, but Onion doubted that he could do that without Steven hearing, and then he would be questioned as to why he was in the house and how long he had been there.

While he was thinking, Steven abruptly hopped off his bed and went down the stairs. It looked like he was going to the kitchen at first, but then he turned and went straight into the bathroom.

Well, then. It looked like an elaborate escape plan wasn’t necessary after all. He climbed back down the furniture and left out the window, closing it behind him.

Onion touched down in the Kindergarten once more. It was much darker here than the beach house. The sky had started turning orange as the sun began to set while Onion was scaling the forearm of the statue. The climb had been relatively easy, but getting up onto the stone elbow from the rocky slope of the cliff had taken longer than expected. Fortunately, the surroundings were still reasonably well-lit.

The slow climb up the forty-five degree slope of the forearm as the sky changed from blue to pale to yellow behind him as the sun set could have been an amazingly poetic moment, but Onion cared little for such immaterial things. 

Onion stepped off the warp pad, placing the gem fragment back into his pocket. He scanned the ground for any unfamiliar footprints, but there didn’t seem to be any. He knew it probably wouldn’t be that easy, but it never hurt to check.

Exploring the Kindergarten at twilight was a much different experience than during the day. The pale lighting muted the colors of the walls; dark shadows were cast underneath fractured injectors. He traversed the ravines, passing by hundreds, if not thousands, of deep holes in the canyon walls. 

Garnet had mentioned that Peridot would probably be “restarting” the Kindergarten. That implied that there had to be some sort of control room where somebody could control the injectors. Unfortunately, he had never noticed any sort of building in his explorations of the Kindergarten. Steven had mentioned talking to Peridot before on a big screen, but Onion didn’t know where that could be.

Almost in answer to his thoughts, Onion suddenly began to hear commotion somewhere up ahead. He sped up, accidentally kicking some rocks along the way, but hopefully remaining quiet enough to not get noticed.

The path split up ahead, but the noises were still perfectly audible, so Onion kept following the sounds. They were getting louder, implying that Onion was getting closer. As Onion approached a sharp corner, though, the sounds abruptly stopped. Onion skidded to a stop, accidentally creating more noise. Had he been heard?

As Onion slowly edged around the corner, he quickly scanned the surroundings. There was nothing out of the ordinary, implying that either something benign, like a slight rockfall, had made the noises, or—

“What are you doing here?”

Onion turned to look up the wall of the cliff. Shoes clinging horizontally to the rock face about ten meters up, a tall green figure crouched, ready to pounce. She must have scaled the rock wall for a positional advantage when she heard Onion foolishly make noise in his haste to find her.

They held eye contact for an uncomfortably long time, neither willing to break away.

He had found the Peridot. Now what?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh no its been a month.
> 
> Based on past data, I will probably not be able to follow an update schedule. I have the next three chapters planned out though, and I am excited to write them, but it will probably be 1-2 weeks for each.
> 
> For real though, I hope you enjoy where this is going! Comments and Kudos are food for soul.


	8. A New Companion (?)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peridot was bewildered.
> 
> When she had heard the sounds of something approaching, she had prepared for a confrontation with the Crystal Gems.
> 
> Then, of course, her expectations were completely trashed. By an _organic_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I posted this chapter when I expected to. Nice.

Peridot was bewildered.

When she had heard the sounds of something approaching, she had quickly scaled the wall in preparation for a confrontation with the Crystal Gems. If she could zap and poof one of them with her limb enhancers before flying away it could hopefully cripple the team long enough for her to finish her job in the Kindergarten.

She was disappointed that she had been caught before she could run the tests on the Cluster, but the dim lighting and her positional advantage left her unlikely to get caught.

Then, of course, her expectations were completely trashed.

Instead of the imposing figures of the Crystal Gems, all that arrived was an organic creature. _Odd_ , she thought, _Kindergartens shouldn’t be able to support life_. Figuring that she wouldn’t lose anything by asking, she spoke up.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

Instantly, the organics unnerving gaze snapped to her own. The dark lighting and reasonably far distance prevented her from getting a good look, but it appeared to be a small “human” with an odd blemish on its left cheek. The organic didn’t respond, instead quietly studying her.

Allowing herself to relax slightly now that the threat was identified, she called out again. “Can you understand me?” She received a slight nod. At least the organic was capable of basic communication. She tried to remember what she had written in the report about the “Steven.” It had identified several types of humans, but she didn’t know how to differentiate between them. Figuring it was best just to guess, she spoke up once more.

“Are you a mailman?” The organic didn’t respond. Figuring best to keep going through the list, she kept asking. “A Sadie?” Nothing. “A Lars?” Still nothing. “A My Dad? A Connie? Augh, what was the last one… An Onion-I-Think?” The last one a startled nod out of the organic. 

The now confirmed Onion-I-Think still had its unsettling eyes trained on her, but she was certain she would have been briefed if the local organics were any substantial threat. Even if it turned hostile, her Limb Enhancers gave her both weapons and escape options, so she saw no harm in keeping it around.

She carefully walked back down the wall and onto the ground, keeping her eyes on the Onion-I-Think the whole time. When they stood on the same plane, she deliberately broke eye contact first to demonstrate her reluctance for conflict. The organic was probably just curious, not that she could blame it. Even a Peridot such as herself was leagues above the status of a lowly organic.  
Now relaxed, she decided to continue her trek to the Prime Control Room. Now that the possible threat had been identified, she saw no reason to delay her mission anymore. The location of the Control Room had already been compromised by the Steven, so that meant the Crystal Gems could show up anytime.

When she had just barely started walking, she abruptly heard footsteps start up again. She stopped, turning around, to see that the Onion-I-Think had deigned to follow her. It stayed a reasonable distance away (a logical precaution), but it was still curiously following her.

“You are an odd creature, Onion-I-Think.” No response.

She turned around again and kept walking. The footsteps, while still unfamiliar, eventually settled into comfortable background noise as she walked towards the entrance. She did not want to admit it, but having a companion, however unintelligent, made the trek through the barren, empty Kindergarten slightly more comfortable.

Eventually, she reached the square of ground that served as the entrance to the Control Room. She did not hesitate in activating the door, letting the platform lower beneath her. The Onion-I-Think was left outside, but she did not let that bother her. No matter how comforting the presence was, she did not want to have to herd the organic away from sensitive Gem equipment. 

She looked up. The Onion-I-Think had stopped at the edge of the rapidly deepening pit. She allowed a brief apologetic feeling for the organic to flit through her mind as she dropped out of sight.

She had reached the bottom of the entryway and stepped off the platform when suddenly she heard a sharp noise from behind her. Readying her limb enhancers, she braced herself for whatever was happening. It was probably just a rockfall (The Kindergarten was old and discontinued), but she could not let her guard down in case the Crystal Gems had somehow caught up to her.

She was not prepared for the sight of the Onion-I-Think sliding down the steep slope of the entryway. As it reached the bottom, it rolled itself to a stop before standing up nonchalantly. It was keeping its primitive touch stumps covered over the odd blemish on its cheek, she noticed. Perhaps an injury? Organics tended to be pityingly fragile.

Well, then, if the organic wanted to get itself trapped with her it was more than welcome to.

She turned and made her way carefully to the pedestal, activating the console and pulling up the logs on the Cluster.

“Log Date: 6-3-2. I have reached the Prime Control Room without incident and have begun looking through the reports on the Fusion experiments. The Kindergarten is unpopulated except for an organic that based on the Steven’s data is an Onion-I-Think.”

She continued looking through the reports and updating her personal logs. It looked like some of the Fusion Experiments had begun emerging early, with one outlier having emerged several earth decades before the others. But for the most part, they seemed to be developing properly.

As though her words had summoned it, a medium sized Cluster Fragment dropped from the ceiling directly above her. She uncaringly activated the immobilizing tractor beam installed on her Limb Enhancers, moving it away from her before it could land. She then promptly zapped it with a weak destabilizing laser beam from the other arm of her Limb Enhancers. It poofed instantly. She made a note in her log before indifferently continuing her task.

The organic, on the other hand, seemed quite interested. Keeping one hand on its cheek to hide the odd blemish, it skittered over to the fallen Gem, intent on picking it up.

Pausing her log, she used the tractor beam again to pick up the organic and pull it away from the fallen gem.

“Pitiful organic. That experiment may be the lowest form of Gem life imaginable, but it is still immeasurably above what you could ever hope to be.”

She set the organic down across the room. When she thought it safe to return to the console, she was only able to get through a couple more pages before she heard the clatter of rocks and heard the organic approaching the fallen Gem once more. Without bothering to turn around she caught the organic in her tractor beam again.

Sighing, she glanced behind her and again met the unsettling eyes of the Onion-I-Think through the immobilizing field of the beam.

“You are an inconvenience. Annoying. What will happen to you if someone stronger than me turns up? What will you do then?”

_“Don’t touch that! You clods don’t know what you’re doing!”_

_The ship shook violently underneath her, but the whip binding her didn’t let her brace herself. She tumbled around the room, colliding painfully with the walls and floor._

_There was no other way out. She had to escape._

_She watched the ship, her ship, crumble to pieces as it tumbled back down to earth. She felt oddly small as her escape pod plummeted towards the surface._

_She pulled herself out of the wreckage of her pod, climbing to the surface of the crater. She had nothing but her form and her limb enhancers, but she would shatter herself before giving up on her mission._

She frowned. “There will be no one to save you after that.”

This time, instead of running towards the fallen Gem, as soon as it was free of the immobilizing beam it reached into one of its pockets and pulled out…

_Interesting_

“So, you found one of the Fusion Experiments already. Probably one of the outliers that emerged exceedingly early and found its way up to the surface. Your odd fascination with me now makes more sense. You are curious, aren’t you?”

The Onion-I-Think nodded, but otherwise did not react. She detachedly wondered exactly how much information about the Gems this organic had managed to assemble.

“Did you have any other previous contact with Gem equipment besides that fragment?” 

It hesitated for a moment, then nodded again. She suddenly started worrying. The only other major Gem presence on the entire planet was the Crystal Gems. If this was a sleeper agent or something she was unwittingly playing into…

“Are you an agent of the Crystal Gems?”

That prompted an emphatic shake of the head. It seemed less of denial (as expected of a sleeper agent) and more of general distaste. Clearly the organic had heard of the Crystal Gems, but if it was not affiliated with them then there was one prominent conclusion.

“Bad experiences then?” It nodded once again. “I suppose I have a similar relationship with the Crystal Gems. I wish those _clods_ would just leave me alone to do my job, but they just keep interrupting me and messing up my things!”

The organic did not appear to have understood her; in any case, it did not respond to her. Instead, it sat down quietly, one hand cradling the Fusion Experiment it found, and the other still covering the blemish on its cheek.

Strangely, she was starting to find the organic somewhat…endearing. Like her Robonoids, it did not irritate her with incessant talking, instead just quietly listening and observing. The upper class Gems only talked to her if there was a major problem or just to vent frustrations, otherwise everything tended to be done through a screen.

Worse still were the fellow Peridots. In order to succeed – even to survive – they had to be better than each other. She herself found rising through the ranks to be easy enough, but that came with constantly being on the lookout for threats. When she had her merit recognized enough to serve a personal mission for Yellow Diamond, she had been ecstatic, but before she left the planet she had to deal with the glares and mutterings of resentment. (They wouldn’t listen to her even if she wanted to talk).

She shook away the memories. Despite how far she had fallen, she would never let herself abandon the mission she had set out to do. She turned back to the console, resumed her log. She swiftly reached the end of the reports on the Fusion Experiment data, so she closed those pages and opened up the data on the Cluster.

_Best to start a new log. This is the most important data that will be found here._

She ended her log on the Fusion Experiments, then started a new recording.

“Log Date: 6-4-2. I have just pulled up the reports on the Cluster. To start, the console has reported no major errors in the Cluster’s development. This means in theory that the Cluster is set to emerge on time, but I will have to go through the reports manually in case the algorithm missed something. This is a one-of-a-kind experiment, so any errors specific to this case have not been documented properly.”

On the edges of her field of view, she noticed the Onion-I-Think sitting on the ground looking curiously at her. She figured all of the information she was recording was quite fascinating to an uneducated observer. She figured she would indulge the organic.

“Yes, these unique characteristics merit additional scrutiny. Normal Gems have an upper limit on size because of how difficult it is to consistently grow them. The Cluster, by contrast, has the necessary Gem pieces already grown. This means the incubation period changes from both external and internal growth to a solely internal development period.”

While the additional clarification was not strictly necessary for her logs, she quite liked the interested (awed, maybe) expression on the organic. 

She continued on in that manner, completing the check-up as normal but adding embellishments to pacify (impress) the organic’s curiosity. As she continued, she found herself feeling more and more satisfied. She had been in a haze of having to state her own panic while making the decisions necessary to avoid the Crystal Gems while completing her mission, but right here, with just the quiet organic as company, she was starting to feel in control.

“One of Homeworld’s most researched topics is, naturally, gem production. We can extrapolate the time of emergence within a rather specific time frame once we get preliminary readings even just after the Gem has been injected. Unfortunately, the predicted range of emergence gets wider the longer a Gem has to incubate. The Cluster has an unusually long development period, which means we cannot get the predicted date of emergence within more than a couple of Earth’s years.”

_Is this really necessary? We could get this done much quicker if we did not indulge the organic._

“…resulting in clear errors the console will pick up. Unfortunately there is still the possibility of less visible deformities popping up, and in large Kindergartens it is less efficient to manually terminate the growing Gem. In these cases, the Off-Color is shattered when it emerges with the rest of the batch. Similarly…”

_It was…nice. To be able to share knowledge without judgement. The other Peridots were always much to busy to listen. And Stars forbid the superiors actually want to hear the ramblings of a lowly Peridot._

“…but while that process is nearly perfected for normal Gems, the Cluster lacks any new Gem material to save information on. We are using the incubation period to let the Cluster assemble a comprehensive database of information from the leftover pieces of data in the shards. As for its consciousness…”

_But if it were really necessary, she could easily re-record her logs without unnecessary additions._

“…thus we can confirm that the Cluster is both set to emerge within the predicted window, and should be stable enough to maintain its form once it has. Log Date end.”

She looked over at the Organic as she turned off her log. It was still just staring at her, but when it noticed her looking it gave a small smile. 

Suddenly, it started making an odd grabbing motion upwards.

“I do not understand your primitive sign language, Onion-I-Think. What do you want?”

It closed the hand not covering its face around the small Fusion Experiment it was holding and held it up in the air. It then pointed to itself. The gestures were crude, but the meaning seemed clear.

“You want me to carry you.” It nodded. “You think I want your disgusting organic body touching my Limb Enhancers?” It shook its head. “What, you want me to use the tractor beam?” It nodded again, smiling. “I…That is meant to be used to incapacitate hostiles.” It nodded once more.

_Such an odd creature._

She picked up the Onion-I-Think in her tractor beam and set it on a fallen boulder. It slid down the slope and jumped on the ground, then made the same upwards grabbing motion. Somewhat mesmerized, she repeated the action, this time releasing the beam as she was lifting to launch the organic at just the right angle to land it perfectly on top of the boulder. It jumped around a bit in excitement before sliding down again.

She continued pacifying (playing with) the organic for a bit longer. She found it odd that the Onion-I-Think enjoyed being trapped in the immobilizing beam so much, but she figured it was nice to see her tech appreciated, even if it was improper.

Eventually, the organic got tired. It was breathing more rapidly and did not move as fast as it did when they started. She figured it was a good time to stop. The Onion-I-Think appeared to have the same idea. It gave one last smile in her direction before getting on the elevator and rising to the surface, leaving her in the dark all alone.

Despite the sudden departure, she still felt oddly light. It was…nice, to finally have someone who was not antagonizing her, even if they were not on the same side. She did a final check of the control room before calling the elevator back down and leaving. She smiled, feeling quite pleasant. For the first time, it felt like her mission was becoming agreeable.

It wasn’t until she had already flown away from the Kindergarten that she remembered that the elevator was designed to only be operated by Gems.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually spent a lot of time trying to figure out Peridot’s log systems. Based on Log Date 7 15 2, we can infer that the second digit is the progressive log number, going up by one with each new log. More complicated are the first and third digits.
> 
> In Warp Tour, Peridot names her log 3 1 2 when she arrives on earth. It jumps to 6 5 2 in Keeping it Together and skips to 7 11 2 at the start of Log Date 7 15 2. At this point, I have to admit this is all conjecture, but I am fairly confident in my analysis.
> 
> All the log dates that start with 6 are related to the mission to check on the cluster. She switches to 7 when she joins the Crystal Gems to destroy the cluster. My interpretation of this is that the first digit of the log date relates to a broader classification system. Each big “phase” of her mission gets a new number, which makes sense for a sorting system. 
> 
> Unfortunately, all of the logs in the show end with 2, so we can’t analyze the differences in the logs. At this point, this is all purely my own theory, but I think it makes sense. Peridot is about 3000 years old during the events of the show, which is not very old by Gem standards, but since logs the logs that start with 3-7 occur in a time span of less than a year, it means that most of her time on Homeworld was either not doing anything (unlikely: Homeworld is shown to have rigorous working standards) or not making logs (also unlikely: peridot is clearly in the habit of making logs, and clung heavily to Steven’s recorder gift).
> 
> Peridot’s mission to earth was accompanied by Jasper, “the perfect quartz.” This implies that the mission was extremely high profile, implying that Peridot herself was also very highly regarded (for a Peridot, at least). Furthermore, we can group the missions involving her flight to Earth with her remote analysis of the Kindergarten and the efforts to fix the warp, because both had to deal with her traveling to Earth to check on the Cluster.
> 
> Based on these points, my conclusion is that the final digit is similarly used as a classification system, as one level higher than the first digit. Peridot was probably acting like a normal technician of her class but was selected for the Cluster mission based on her merit. The Cluster mission was so broad and of high importance that she updated the final number on her logs and began from zero.
> 
> Her first logs were probably outlining her plans and preparing her hardware. The second group of logs were then assembling the Flask Robonoids and sending them to Earth. Her third group of logs (starting with 3 1 2 in Warp Tour) were what she planned to be her progress on earth but was then interrupted by the Crystal Gems. Logs 4-5 were her updating her plans, getting a Gem Warship, and flying to earth. Her sixth group of logs (including 6 5 2 in Keeping it Together) are her crashed on earth and manually checking on the Cluster. She switches over to 7 when she switches sides and tries to terminate the Cluster.
> 
> To my knowledge, Peridot doesn’t make any more logs after they deal with the cluster, so I can’t confirm anything, but for now I think my analysis makes sense.
> 
> (Plus, if all Peridots use this system, they could brag about their mission count with the last digit. I can imagine a Homeworld Peridot being like “Log Date: 4 2 3” and the other peridots in the room being like “we are in the presence of greatness.”)

**Author's Note:**

> So, that happened.
> 
> I must confess that this idea was born from a strange prompt that I got during quarantine that went way out of hand.


End file.
